


Everlasting Light and Unrelenting Shadows

by Hello_Im_not_a_possum



Category: Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart (Cartoon)
Genre: Altered Lycanthropy, Animal Instincts, Body Horror, Curses, Gen, No Sweetypies Were Harmed In The Writing Of This Fic, Okay Pinky Gets Harmed, Possession, Supernatural Shenanigans, Transformation, but only because he provoked the monster, don't provoke monsters kids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2020-10-17 08:40:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20618162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hello_Im_not_a_possum/pseuds/Hello_Im_not_a_possum
Summary: While life in pure heart valley was rarely dull, sometimes it's peaceful enough to engage in a good old fashioned adventure. When the aftermath ends with bringing home a fancy-looking obsidian statuette, strange things start happening: Mao Mao waking in unusual places with no memory of how he got there, an unnerving amount of dead birds appearing, and sightings of a creature unlike anything the sheriff's department has ever seen before...





	1. Justice never sleeps but it does need a break sometimes

Pure Heart Valley was a strange place. Some days it felt like it deserved it's legendary reputation and needed it's sheriff department: monsters, sky pirates, weird magical phenomenons, stuff like that. Other days it was basically Florida but only populated by technicolor furries and the elusive non-technicolor furry: yes there SHOULD be people making sure these hooligans don't turn the valley into a cesspool of chaos but also, those said people need a break every now and again. After several months of no monsters, no pirate attacks and lots of Bootleg Florida-man Sweetypie shenanigans, it seemed as good of a time as any to start using some of the vacation days that they had earned.

It was very hard to compromise on a vacation plan when one third of your group doesn't actually know what 'fun' is, everything another third wants to do is either something they could either already do at home or was technically illegal, the last third just really, really wants to fight another cool monster again, and the King is nervous of the idea of the trio leaving <strike>because who would defend him from the unrulier citizens?</strike> What if a monster came back? But finally, after many hours of bickering, and several ideas thrown out the window later, a compromise was made. Their vacation would be a series of mini adventures just outside Pure Heart Valley.

Close enough for our heroes to be summoned if _needed_, but far enough to not be constantly bothered with having to pull Pinky out of whatever he gets stuck in when the Sheriff's department weren't around.

Day 1 of the vacation: checking out a local, mostly-hidden 'cave'. 'Cave' being in quotation marks as what the trio had actually found was something more akin to something's long abandoned lair. A Something that was powerful, dangerous, mysterious, and whose long forgotten domain drew Mao Mao and Adorabat in like moths to a flame. But Badgerclops didn't share his companions' excitement. Just because he _could_ avoid the various traps throughout the area doesn't mean he _wanted_ to spend his vacation doing just that.

While some of the traps were so withered with age that they didn't even trigger two-thirds of the time, the dart trap that was triggered by Badgerclops unknowingly stepping on a pressure plate still worked as well as it assumably did when it was first built.

"Dude, you pick the worst picnic spots."

Badgerclops extended his mechanical arm to grab the picnic basket that got shot out of his hand, obliviously narrowly dodging another dart as he retrieved it.

"This isn't the picnic spot! And I _told _you to leave the basket in the Aerocycle! Lunch happens afterwards!"

Mao Mao deflected three more darts with his sword, focusing half of his energy on making sure none of the darts hit him or Badgerclops, and focusing the other half of his energy on arguing with Badgerclops.

"And let our food get stolen by monsters? No way!"

"There hasn't been a monster sighting in months!"

"There also hasn't been a Sky Pirate attack in months, that doesn't mean that they gave up and reevaluated their lives."

"The Sky Pirates live nearby, do the monsters live here?!"

"Well, maybe they do. And if _I_ was a monster, I'd definitely eat an abandoned picnic basket if I saw one."

"If you were a monster that would be how you got either trapped or poisoned. If _I_ was a monster-"

"MAO MAO! BADGERCLOPS! GUESS WHAT I FOUND!"

Adorabat excitedly flew out of what appeared to be a hidden passage that appeared to lead to an area with a lot less flying darts of assumed death. The opening itself was mostly blocked by a large slab of stone.

"A way out of here?"

"More bones for the bone hole?"

Badgerclops shuddered

"Please stop calling it that. You make it sound like we're raising a serial killer."

"BETTER! COME LOOK!"

Adorabat flew over the the slab while Mao Mao and Badgerclops followed. The giant rock was easily pushed out of the way to reveal a small shrine-like room, the walls decorated with carvings of various monsters. Some of them were monsters the three had fought before, some they were ones they hadn't. But all of their eyes seemed to move as if watching them. In the very middle of the room there was a wooden pedestal with a small black statue resting on it. A statue that Adorabat flew towards with the speed of a bullet and carelessness of somebody who would get very injured soon if left unopposed.

"See?! I found treasure!"

The stature itself also looked like a monster, but it was beautiful. It sparkled as if it was polished mere seconds ago, it's eyes were a pair of rubies, and it's claws and teeth sparkled with rainbow opalescent. 

Adorabat was just about to grab it before Badgerclops stopped her with his mechanical arm.

"WHOA! slow down there little buddy!"

"Did you check for traps yet?"

"No.."

"Speaking from experience, whenever you find treasure, especially in a place like this, you _always_ check the surrounding area for traps."

"Oh, Okay!"

Adorabat flew to the crown molding of the room, diligently searching for anything that seemed out of place enough to warrant suspicion. Mao Mao tapped at suspicious looking tiles of the floor with his sword. And Badgerclops picked up a rock that seemed to be the same size as the statue.

"Do you guys think it's it's like that movie and we can just take the statue and get out of here if we swap it out with a rock?"

"That could work?!"

"Only if we're careful..."

Badgerclops handed Mao Mao the rock. With the precision of someone who had done this many times in his life before, he carefully inched the statue off of the pedestal while placing the rock on the pedestal at the same time while Adorabat watched in silent awe.

Even though his hands were gloved, touching the statue seemed to be giving the caped cat hero a mild electric shock, similar to touching joy buzzer. That could've been the trap he was just talking about. An electric shock that _could've_ killed him on contact if it worked properly, but it's decrepit state had weakened it's former fatality.

As if proving his unspoken theory to be true, the second it came off the pedestal was the second the shocking stopped.


	2. Catnapped

After returning home and putting the statue up on a shelf so it can serve it's new purpose in life as a new bookend, Adorabat noticed something strange about that figure that the trio had weaved through bullet hell to get. It still looked like a monster, it's body was just as shiny as it was when she first laid eyes on it and much like the carvings of other monsters in the walls it still looked vaguely reptilian. But now, instead of a pair of rubies it's 'eyes' were a pair of the brightest acid-green emeralds she had ever seen before. And she could've **sworn** that it's head moved when it 'thought' nobody was looking. Adorabat was still a kid, but she wasn't stupid, there was some magical nonsense going on with that statue.

She wanted to tell Mao Mao and Badgerclops about it, but at the same time, they seemed so proud of her when the three of them put it on that shelf.

Mao Mao was especially proud of her and didn't hide it as he praised her for being able to find something he would've missed and Badgerclops wouldn't look for in the first place.

That statue wasn't just some dumb so-expensive-it's-priceless legendary carving that greedier adventurers would kill each other for, it also wasn't _just_ a tacky bookend that the three of them had gone through a stupid amount of effort to get when a store that sells bookends was in town, the statue was now priceless in sentimental value as it was the first piece of treasure she ever found. She didn't want to disappoint Mao Mao and Badgerclops if she told them that the treasure was cursed. Besides, maybe it wasn't even cursed to begin with, maybe there was still a lot of adrenaline going through her that _made_ her see things. Maybe the statue's eyes were always emeralds and they just looked like rubies in the dim light of the carved room. Maybe it's head was never moving at all but it was just an optical illusion.

* * *

Mao Mao sprung awake at "DEAR GOD! WHY ARE DOING THIS TO YOURSELF?! _PLEASE HAVE MERCY ON YOUR OWN HEALTH!_" o'clock, also known as any time between midnight and 3 AM. Logically, he knew he should probably go back to sleep but his body didn't want to. And he agreed with it. He felt great, the type of great that made him feel energized and powerful, like the only thing stopping him from killing a god, becoming a god, and or mercilessly conquering the entire world with brute force in a single hour was his own moral code.

He couldn't just waste that spontaneous energy on _sleeping_ of all things, he was going to the Dojo to train. He slipped out of bed and was about to go but he froze when he heard Badgerclops yawn and shift around in his sleep. Forget the Dojo, it was too close, and his deputies were not heavy enough sleepers for him to get away with that. He could accidentally wake somebody up, or wake everybody up. But where else could he train?

...

The surrounding wilderness looked lovely this time of year.

* * *

Adorabat had made a habit out of waking up early to do morning warm-ups with Mao Mao. Vacation days or on-duty days, warm-up stretches were important. (Badgerclops was thankful that they started doing them in the Dojo so he wouldn't be bothered as much anymore) but today was different. Today, Adorabat couldn't find Mao Mao anywhere.

"Mao Mao?"

He wasn't in his bunk, but Geraldine was. That worried her, she'd never seen Mao Mao go _anywhere_ without Geraldine.

"Mao Mao?"

He wasn't in the kitchen.

"Mao Mao?!"

He wasn't in the bathroom.

"_Mao Mao?!_"

He wasn't in the garage, but the Aerocycle was. Officially ruling out that tiny bit of hope that "maybe he just went somewhere and this was the 'once in a blue moon' where he forgot to bring Geraldine" She still looked though, hoping her suspicions were wrong.

"_MAO MAO?!_"

He wasn't in the Dojo.

"**_MAO MAO?!_**"

He wasn't anywhere in the house.

"**_MAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!?_**"

As far as she could tell, he wasn't anywhere near the outside of the house.

This was terrible! what if he got cat-napped?! What if he was hurt?! What would Pure Heart Valley do without it's sheriff?! The Sky Pirates would steal the Ruby Pure Heart right out from under them! While Adorabat and Badgerclops were not helpless, Mao Mao was a key part of the team and they needed him! They needed to find him but where on earth was he?! there was no evidence left by his catnappers, no ransom note, nothing. There was a strong twinge of guilt chewing at her insides, something deep down telling her that this was her fault but she didn't know how or why. It made this already stressful and scary situation even worse.

Wait a minute, that statue...

"**_YOU!_**"

She yelled while pointing an accusatory wing at the sinister bookend that obviously doomed Mao Mao to an unknown fate. 

"**THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!**"

She threw the statue across the room with as much force as her tiny body would allow, the tail broke off of the beast while the books it once supported flopped over and fell on the floor. Naturally, the amount of commotion as well as the volume of said commotion woke Badgerclops up.

"H-*_Yawwwwwn_* Hey Adora-b, what's wih all the noise?"

"**BADGERCLOPS?!**"

"_AUGH!_"

"_**MAOMAOSBEENCATNAPPEDANDWEDONTKNOWIFHESHURTANDWEDONTKNOWWHEREHEISANDANDANDANDANDANDAND-**_"

"_ADORABAT!_"

*_Hic, hic, hic, hic_*

"Adorabat, I'm sure he's okay. He probably just went out for a walk or something."

"T-the-n *Hic* w-w-w-wh-h-yyy *Hic* d-di-didn't he *Hic* Bri-i-i-ing Ge-e-erald-i-ine?" she managed to choke out between fits of sobs.

"Geraldine?"

Adorabat wiped off her tears and pointed to Mao Mao's bunk, the legendary golden sword still in it's sheath. Disturbingly untouched.

"Oh, That's- that's not good."

Adorabat completely broke down into tears, then Badgerclops pulled her into a comforting embrace.

"There, there, let it all out. It's going to be okay. We'll find him."

"H-Ho-*hic*-ow-w-w?"

"Well, who do we know who would benefit most from Mao Mao being gone?"

"T-t-the-e Sky *hic* Pi-i-rates?"

"Who do we know who's the the most likely to kidnap Mao Mao?"

"The-e *Hic* S-sky Pira-ates."

"Whose clocks are we going to clean today?"

"The Sky-y Pira-a*hic*-tes."


	3. Friendly reminder to keep an eye on your cat when taking them outside.

Mao Mao's body wanted to kill him today.

At the moment, it felt like his bones were ripped out of his body by a swarm of angry lizards and replaced with various soft cheeses that were vaguely bone-shaped. His organs felt like half of them had been thrown into an oven until they were nothing more then a mess of charred, vaguely organ-like mess of molten flesh, while the other half were frozen into solid chunks then all organs clumsily thrown back into his own body. His skin and muscles felt like somebody origami-ed them into an accordian, played Megalovania on the said flesh-accordion then un-origami-ed the flesh accordion back into his body.

His conscious mind was screaming at him: "WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOURSELF?!" and honestly, he wished he could answer that question. The midnight training session was mostly a blur to him, he vaguely remembered biting something that hissed at him but he also 'remembered' Sweetie pies screaming 'monster' and running away from him, so it was probably a dream. If it wasn't for the fact that he 'woke up' deep in the forest he would've assumed the entire midnight training session was a dream.

Speaking of dreams, he was going back to the land of dreams. No he didn't care that he just woke up and was in the middle of the wilderness, he was tired now. And besides, he was on vacation anyway. He'd properly wake up and go back home later. For now, he would just lay down here in the warm sunshine, let his aching body rest and- 

"**_MAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!?_**"

"_Uuuuugh._"

Oh right.

He couldn't just lay here, Adorabat and Badgerclops were probably worried sick about him is that screaming was any indication!

In spite of every part of his body screaming at him not to move, he forced himself up onto his shaking legs, and made his way toward the sound of screaming.

* * *

While Badgerclops and Adorabat would've loved to break into the Sky Pirates' base, beat them until they screamed for mercy, and get Mao Mao back. Before the two fired up the Aerocycle, The king called for them. Stating it was something of the utmost importance and more importantly to them, it was about Mao Mao.

Looking back, if Mao Mao was kidnapped by the sky pirates, wouldn't it make sense for them to steal Mao Mao and do absolutely nothing else. If it was the Sky Pirates, they'd at least do _something_ to hinder their abilities to save him. Anything, even if it was something almost unbelievably stupid. They'd still do something to try stop them from trying to get Mao Mao back by force.

They needed more information about Mao Mao's situation before violently destroying the local hooligans and it sounded like King Snugglemange had what they needed.

The two heroes did not expect the kingdom to be in this much chaos this early in the morning. even from their ride in the sky they could hear the sweetie-pies screaming about a monster, screaming about Mao Mao, and screaming about dead birds.

In all fairness, there _were_ a lot of dead birds.

Like, a lot of dead birds.

As in, Badgerclops and Adorabat didn't even _know_ there were this many birds in the area until their corpses covered the roads.

The trip to the king's palace was mostly silent.

"_SHERIFF MAO MAO! THE ENTIRE KINGDOM IS IN PERIL! THERE WAS A MONSTER- _Oh, oh dear, he's not here is he?"

"Wait, 'was' a monster? like it's gone _now_?"

"W-W-well, yes, but-"

"With all due respect your majesty, if the monster's gone now then..._ WHY DID YOU CALL US?!_"

"Just look! _QUINTOOOOON!_ _The Phone!_"

King Snugglemange's loyal servant quickly fetched a damaged smartphone, which Snugglemange daintily held as if he was holding a teacup.

"Pay _close_ attention to what you've about to watch."

* * *

The Sweetie Pie who was recording was breathing heavily, as if he had just been running. The only source of light appeared to be coming from the phone itself.

"I-I *Huff* think I lost it, *huff* tha-at monster isn't gonna- *wheeze* isn't gonna get *huff* me tonight! Heh, ah ha ha!"

As the unlucky fellow quietly trekked his way back to his house, he kept panning the camera around at rapid speeds, until there was a barely audible *squelch* that made the sweetie pie freeze up and tilt the camera to his paws, revealing that he had stepped in a freshly made, partly eaten bird corpse, courtesy of the monster.

"E-Eww..."

A shadow dashed by in the distance, the Sweetie Pie noticed it as the camera was now noticeably shakier.

"AAAAAAAUGH! Oh, O-okay, *wheeze* It d-didn't find me yet! ha ha! I'm not too *huff* far from my house, all I-"

There was a figure in the distance, a figure that was wearing a familiar red cape.

"Oh, Sheriff Mao Mao! t-th-thank goodness you're here!"

The Sweetie Pie approached the caped figure, only for it to flinch away from the camera's light and make a low growling noise.

"Sheriff, there's *huff* a-a terrible monster around! I-I've only seen what it did, but I-I think it's still here!"

"M̧͏͓̖̱̞̭̩͕͎̱̱̲̕͠m̢͞͏̱̖̫͈̲̱̤̺̠̘̯͙̠̗͔̪̣͚ͅm̴̖͓͎̥̺̺͙̗̞̪̟͖̩̹͖͝e̴̥͔̝̺̰͍͕̦̠͓̮̫̰͕̰͝e̷̶̷͙̜̮̠̖̱͕̱̗̯̮͢ę̴̳̩̻͍̰̳̹̼͕͉̩̭̩̰̦̱͓͢r̨͖̱̗̠̗͟r҉̢͓̙͓͚͡͠ͅr̨͕̩͚̫͕̞͉̹̬̗̰ͅr̨̞̤̗̗̠̤͎̤̫̬͇̟̜͙̗͜͞r͡҉̨̬̪̲̗̬̭͙̻̥͍͙͇̳̕̕ͅͅr̩͓͓̤̝̦͍̯͎̣̣̺̖̝͓̘̣͓͠r͢͏̛̠͖̫̳̹̜͍̞͙̞͘r̢҉͏͏͙̞̙̝r̷̷̵̝̠̘̼̩̱̖͎͎̩̲̘͍̣̱͇̼r҉̥͍͉̖͕͚͎̯͟ŗ͇̙͙̳̖̠̗̙r̴̵̠̘͈͇͉̟͇͔̭̤̦͚͇̰͍̤̲͡͝ͅr҉̟̹̮̦̲̥̫͠r̸̜̘̯̣̠͠r̢͓̗̖̖͠͠r̡̢̛͙͍͔r̻͉͇̟̰͍̤̼̬̖̥̖͔͓͈̗͢͡͞͡ͅr̢҉̶̛̭̩̲̠r̴̸̷̜͇̬̱̮̯"

When the sweetie pie came closer, the camera showed that the figure was Identical to Mao Mao in every physical way, except, it didn't have the golden sword or it's sheath on it's hip.

"S-sh-sheriff?"

The monster mimicked Mao Mao perfectly in body, but it seemed to be nothing more then a feral animal. It's ears laid flat against it's skull, it was on all fours with it's body curled and fur standing up, and what it did next, was evidence that it was _not_ Mao Mao.

_*H̷͇̣͔͔͇̤̝i̴͏̷̸̯̠̪̬͚͉̞̮̬͙̣̘͙͠i̸͎̲̟̻̭̳͖̖̟̻͓͘͠ͅi̷̬̜̤̯͈͈̯̘̞̩͚̥͡ͅi̢̕҉̝̘̜͉͔͓̺͔͕̦̼̟̹̤͖̩̣̤i̬̮̗͖̖̤̠̟̜͍̩͜͝͡i̡̨͎̩̩̝̟̟͙̗̲̣̰͎̬̲͢s̷̶̷̪͇͕̲̜͎̻̠͉͚̹̬͎̯͎̣͟s̵̨̜̺̦̪̥̺̤̤̤̬̟͔̹̜̘̹͇͢s̛͚͖͇̦̙̭͕̘̳̯ͅͅs̷̷̛͖͓̙͉͓͓̯̱̙͖͉̼̜̞̜s̵͘͞͏͉̜̲̙̳̞͙͚͔̟̭̫s҉̸̥̹̙͚̳͚͈̲͚̭̱ͅs̯̤̯̩̗̦̝̱̙͖̯̩̼͞͞ͅş̡̯̯̰͕͙̙͓ͅͅs̸͈̖̦̝̭̺̲̹s͞͏̩̠̩͡ͅs̢҉̡̢̪̮̲̺̯̹͔͙̦̳̠̕s̨̤̯̜̪͕̪̯͇͇̳̟͚̝͕̲̕ͅ*_

The Sweetie Pie slowly backed away as the monster's face split open in half, revealing thousands upon thousands of small, sharp teeth that glittered like diamonds. There was a sickening series of *_CRRAAAACCKS_* and *_CRUNCHES_* as the 'skin' of the beast broke open, out came a squirming, writhing abomination that seemed like it was far too large to fit inside the cat hero's fur. The shadows obscured it's appearance, but judging from what could be seen of it, that was for the best.

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA_"

The Sweetie Pie wisely ran as far away from it as he could, seemingly dropping his phone in the process as the screams grew fainter and fainter.

* * *

Badgerclops covered Adorabat's eyes while she covered her own ears.

"As you two can see, this monster appears to be some sort of shape-shifter that likes to wear our beloved sheriff's face. Now where is he? I'm sure that he needs to know about this creature..."

"Well, the thing is-"

"**_WE HAVE NO IDEA WHERE HE IS!_**"


	4. Phantom Pains

It took less then eight hours for all of pure heart valley to go from calm into a full blown panic.

The News of what was happening spread like a wildfire in a forest of dead trees and gasoline: A new monster on the loose with unknown but terrifying power, No way to know what it will and can do, No sheriff Mao Mao, No idea where he is, No way to contact him at all, and No knowledge on if the local hero was even alive or dead...

And with that news came chaos, fire, a surprising amount of pitchforks, a lot of screaming, and the expected amount of property damage that happened when the kingdom was confronted with the reality of their situation.

"THE MONSTER'S A SHAPE-SHIFTER! IT COULD BE ANYONE!"

"WHERE DID THE SHERIFF GO?!"

"IT COULD EVEN BE _YOU!_"

"ARE THE DEAD BIRDS A WARNING?!"

"WHAT?! NO! I KNOW IT'S NOT ME! I'M ME!"

"IS THAT MONSTER STILL HERE?!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

"ARE YOU _REALLY_ YOU OR ARE YOU THE MONSTER TRYING TO TRICK PEOPLE INTO THINKING THAT YOU'RE YOU?!"

"RIOT!"

"WHAT IF THE MONSTER _ATE_ MAO MAO AND THAT'S HOW IT COULD BECOME HIM?!"

"WE HAVE TO AVENGE THE SHERIFF!"

"THERE'S A LOT OF SHOUTING AND I WANT TO SHOUT TOO!"

Badgerclops turned his robotic hand into a megaphone in the hopes of restoring order.

"_**Everyone calm down! We're going to fix this mess, and we are going to find Mao Mao but first we need to figure out what we do know about this... thing.**_"

* * *

When Mao Mao finally made it back to the house, he noticed that it was empty.

Empty of people, and empty of an Aerocycle. He heard how loudly Adorabat screamed for him and he knew Badgerclops and Adorabat probably went out looking for him. What this meant was that the smartest thing for him to do right now was to text Badgerclops letting him know where he is and just stay put. ...maybe now that he's home and the people worrying about him don't have to worry anymore he can finally rest and- Wait, was the monster statue on the floor?

The second time he picked it up, it felt like he was holding a chunk of ice. Weird, but maybe that's because it was made of some weird stuff, a trip to an antique shop or a museum to figure out what it is could be in order.

"W̕hat ͜a ͘st͘ubbo͟r͝n fo͜oļ ҉yo͠ų ar̴e! ͘O̵f̴ ̸all ͢t͠he th͢ou͘şands upo̸n̨ th͟ous̢an͘ds ͜of͟ h̷e͞roes,̕ ҉v͡illai͘ns͘, a͢nd҉ com̷moners a̴like͢, n̵ev҉er̷ be͡fore͡ ̷have I met̸ s̷om͡e͝o̸ne ̴so st̷upi͢d҉ly det͟e͜rm͢ined ̶t͠o̕ a̷vo̵i̛d ̨y͝our҉ b̨ir̨t̶h̡rig̛ht ̵as͜ y͞ourse̷lf."

That voice echoed in his head, sounding like thousands upon thousands of voices speaking in near perfect harmony. Most of them were faint and almost whispery but some of the louder ones sounded like people he knew. The stature now felt like he was holding an ant-filled cocoon of spider webs. He hastily put it down on the nearest shelf.

"..What?"

As the... thing spoke again, Mao Mao could recognize some of the voices in it's words, one of the loudest voices was the voice of his own father.

"I͠ can͏ he̴l͜p ͢yo͢u,͠ yo͞u̷ know.̢ If̷ you le͢nd m̧e ̛p̸ower͠ o̴ve̕r͢ yo͜ųr͜ ̢m̢įnd, I c̵an͟ ͟give you ̵t͏h̡e͢ p͜ow̷e͏r͟ ̧to̵ pu̶rs͡u̕e ̢y͟ou͝r ͟t͢r̢ue ̸b̡i̴rthrig͝ht͘.̕"

Nope. He definitely was not going to do _that _in any way shape or form. He knew from experiences that there's no shortcuts to greatness and he knew better then to trust this suspicious magical entity that was supposed to be just a cool bookend.

"Oh really?" he scoffed "and what is my 'true birthright'?"

"Y̷ou ̛͟_d̷ǫ_ h̵̨͢a͏v̷e ̡t̡h̷̢e̢͟ ̨p͝o̸̡t̡͡͞e͏̢̧n̴̡̨t̢i͢҉a̴̵l͠ ̷͢t̨͢͢o ͟be͢҉ ̸̡a͏͡ le̶҉ge̷n̵͠d:̛͝ ̷͟yoų,̨ ̸͝t̢͢h̸͜͞e̛ o̴n̵͢҉l͘y̷̴ so͘n̶ ̴o͏̴f̴ ͢͠a̡̧ çl̸a̢͟n͏ ̶o̡f̵͏̴ h̷̕͠erǫes̛ wḩo̧ l̷o҉̵st͠͠ ̕w̷h̷̨͜a̧͏̧t̴̶ ̵͘it ͢m̕e̛a͞n̶s ̶t̛͞o̵͟ ̷҉b͠e ҉a h͞e̵r̨o, ̶҉w̶͜͟ḩ͞ǫ̶ ̛k̡n͘o̸͞wş͝ b͞e̢t̴r̸̷͟a͢͜y̨͏al͡ a͢s ̴̷b͡͞o͢͝t̛h͜ ̸̡ţ̷̶h̸̶e b͢͏et̷r͏͠ayed͏͟ ҉̶an͘͟͞d͘ ͞͡t͞he̵ ̛͏tr̸̨̕a҉̧͜i̛͜t̛or,̕ ͢͝ţḩ͠e͝ ̴p̨̛͜ro̵҉t̶͟ect͘͡oŗ͟ ̴͞o̢͟f̵͢ t͠he̕ c̸̸o̴̶r̸ru̸̵͏pţ̵..͘̕.̵͟ ̴̛͝Y̕ou͢͢҉ ͝w͠o̕u͢͞ld̵ m̵͟ak̴͞e̕ ͝ą̛͝ ͢f͠a̶͘n̶͟͜t̡a͢s͜t͘͢i̸͘c͜ ͜͠le͞͞g͟҉̨e̶͡nd̨͠a͟͡r̡͝y̧ ͘͡v̷̧͘i͜͜l̶l̶̴a̵͢i̛n͘͞.͡"

"A legendary villain..."

Mao Mao has been insulted before for various reasons. Insulted by evil-doers for stopping their evil acts, insulted by the average joe because he kept order, gotten passive-aggressive remarks from his family- but nothing had ever stung him worse then that statue telling him in his father's voice that he would be a fantastic legendary villain.

He smacked the offending magical tacky bookend across the room and was mildly disappointed that it didn't even crack.

"Y̴̵O̶U͡ ̸͘M̡O̶҉R̢̧͝O̴͡N̨!̵͝ IS̴͜ ͘Y͜͞͠Ơ̵UR͡҉ ̸̵̷M̛IN̢D ̢͡MA҉͏͏D҉̵̡E͘҉̕ ̴O̵͘F͏͝ ͏͡S͝T̢͠A͏͏̕L̵̛͡E̶͜͟ ͠S̨҉͜O̴̧͝U̷̡P҉!̢͘͟?͏"

"_Pfft_"

Oh wow, now that it was actually insulting him, it's insults were WEAK. He's been called worse things by Muffins on a bad day.

"P̡e҉̶̡r̕͟͠h̷͏̷̢a̸p̢͘s̛̕҉ ̵a͏̴̡ ͞t͟͡a̶͠͝s̸͢͠͠t̛͟҉͘͟e̢̛͢͠ ̸̧̧̨o̴͜͜f̴̸̛͢͟ ̴͝m̵̛͘͝y̸̨̕͠ ̛̕p̸̷͘͘͢ơ̛̕w̸͏e͡r̨͞͡͏͟ ͟͝i҉҉s̶̵͞ ̴̷̧͝i̶̶͡n̷͠͏̢ ̵̧͡ǫ̵̴̧̡r̴̡̛͟d͡͡͏̴ę̷͝r̷.̛.͘.҉̵̵̕͘"

A shadow darted from the statue to his feet and the next thing he knew was fresh pain.

"**_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!_**"

"S͘t̨o͝͏͟͠p̶̧͝ ̸̴̡͠͝r̛̕͟͢e̡͘s̢̨͞i͏̢͞҉s̕t̶̡͘̕i̵̕͏n͜͝ģ̸̡,҉̸̛ ̵̸̕t͡͏͜h͟҉̕͝e̵̢̡͢r̨͝͞͞ę̵̸͡͠ ̛į̶̴s̨ ̶͢a̢̕n̸̵̨̢ ̸̧̕͟͟ǫ̵̛͡r͜͏̸̵͘d̷̸̕e͏̶̴r̸͘͢͠͡ ̶̵̵͞o̸̡f̶̢͢ ̴̢t͝h̛͟e̴͠ ̶w̶̢̛o̶͝r̢͞l̨d̕͜ ̵t̴ḩ͢͜͝a͏t̡̢̡̨ ̶̢͜͞y͏̶o̡͝҉̵͡u͝͞͞͠ ̕̕a͢ŗe̸͏ ̵͠͝d̸̵͘͡e̴͠f̛̕y͠͡i̸̸n̕͟͟g̶͝͝"

His entire spine felt like how his arm did when Badgerclops's spare arm assimilated to his nerves, with the added emotional distress of the fact that instead of the cause of pain being the backup machine that badgerclops would use if his arm broke down, this thing was very obviously an evil force working against him and distorting his body for it's own evil purposes.

_*Huff* *Huff* *Huff*_

He looked down at the dammage.

"A-All *_Huff_* of that, for a tail?!"

He tried moving it, the tail responded like a flesh and blood tail would've responded, but as he did so he noticed it looked transparent in the light.

"It's not even flesh and blood!"

He tried touching it with his hand, it went through the ghostly tail.

"It might as well not exist!"

His own shadow scoffed at him, the two-dimensional figure now animating and gesturing on the monster's accord as opposed to mimicking his own movements.

"W̵e̵̴͟͡ļ̴͜͠l͘͟͟,̛͟͝ ̨͘i̶̧̛͟f̵̴̨͞ ̕͘҉͞y̛͝͡o̢ų̴҉̨ ̵̧̢̕҉d̶̢̕i̴̡̨d̴͟n͢͞'̡̧͢͝͞t͢͞͞ ̨̡͘r͟e̸̡̨͜͞s̨i̷̧̕͜s̨̨͠͏͏t҉̴ ͟m̴͝y̴ ͢҉i̢̛͏̧n̶̨̢̕͟f̵̢̛l̵̷͜u̴̴̧͝e̢n̨̡̢͟͢c̵͟҉͢ę̶,̸͏ ̵̵I̵͜t͟ ͟͟͝w̸͞͞o̷҉̷̧͜ư̴l̶̨̛d̸͟͟'̴̧҉v҉͡e͢ ͏̶̕b̵̨̛e̡̛͢͝e͟͡n̷̨̕ ̢̛͝a͠͝͠ ͠͞b̵̡̕͟͝ę̛̕͠t̸̨͞͡t̶̶͞e͝r̸̨̕͜ ̧͝҉t̨͘͢͡a͝͞͏̷i̷͏l̨!̧͞"

He didn't even want the shadow-thing's power and he still felt ripped off! He had to find a way to stop this invader before it did any more damage in an attempt to drag him into the dark side. Wait a minute! Camille and Honey! their whole thing was magic, so if anybody all of Pure Heart Valley knew how to stop a magical shadow creature, it was those two.


	5. There's a weird FUCKING cat inside

_Brr-i-i-i-ing Brr-i-i-i-ing_

Judging by the fact he had texted him earlier, it sounded like Badgerclops had decided to call Mao Mao back as opposed to texting him back. Great timing! He needed to hear the ACTUAL voice of a friend now more than ever.

He went over to answer the phone.

_THUNK_

...It turns out, a phantom tail affects one's balance in a far weirder way then a real tail would. Or there's shadowy magic juice in his spine and the rest of his bones now. Or maybe, some other reason that was definitely tied to the unwanted magical guest and not helped by the fact that he was running on a small amount of sleep and was already worn out.

Mao Mao glared at the smirking shadow as he pulled himself off of the floor and quickly grabbed the couch for balance before he fell again. He knew that there was no way he could possibly make it to Camille's like this. He couldn't even leave his own living room without falling down like a kite in a windless sky!

_Brr-i-i-i-ing Brr-i-i-i-ing_

That phone call seemed too important to ignore and he'd have to re-learn how to walk anyway so...

_CRASH_

"Yoų ͜k͡now,̴ ͜i̧f̛ th͞e rest ̶of̶ ͘you͘r b͘od̢y͢ ̶wa̡s m̴ade of s͞ha҉d̷ow̵s yo҉u͠ co̧ul͜d ͏mo҉ve̕ a l͏o͞t͏ ̡l̵es͜s̕..̕. ̴cl͜u͜msi͠l̢y͢."

"Shut _UP!_"

He dragged himself to the sound of the phone, one can not fall on the floor if one does not leave the floor. The second he answered it he was met with the concerned and very loud voice of Adorabat.

"**_MAO MAO! WE WERE SO WORRIED! NOBODY KNEW WHERE YOU WERE, WE THOUGHT YOU WERE CATNAPPED, DEAD BIRDS ARE EVERYWHERE AND THERE WAS A SHAPE-SHIFTING SHADOW MONSTER AND IT HAD YOUR FACE AND EVERYBODY THOUGHT IT ATE YOU!_**"

"_Adorabat! calm down, I'm fine!_"

"...Are you sure you're okay man? you look terrible."

In all fairness he was not wrong, Mao Mao looked like he just fought in a bloody battle to the death and only survived by the skin of his teeth. As would anyone who left the house at an ungodly hour, did lord knows what, and got their body hijacked by a supernatural entity with very obvious malicious intentions. But forget about him, what was the deal with the shadow monster? He blinked, still trying to process what Adorabat just screamed.

"...What happened while I was gone?"

"Some kind of weird monster showed up last night, and it was creepy!" 

"We've only seen a recording of it, but it ...looked like something out of a horror movie..."

"How?"

"I dunno, it was some kind of shape-shifter..?"

"Like Tanya?"

"No way man! this **thing** looked like you at first but then it's skin ripped open and out came the most _horrifying_ thing I have ever seen in my life!"

"_It killed over a bajillion forests' worth of birds!_"

Adorabat lifted up one of the half-eaten carcasses as an example, Mao Mao recognized claw marking and bite marks in the bird's flesh but did not point it out.

"Only a few of them were eaten so this has to be some kind of threat, like it'S GONNA EAT THE KINGDOM NEXT!"

"-But the good news is that it _really_ hates light so all you need is to slice 'n dice it with your sword and then it's yesterday's news!"

"It sounds like this thing is nocturnal, so we'll have to set a trap for it if it comes again tonight."

"Speaking of the night, Where did you go last night anyway?"

"Did you get into a big fight against some really strong bad guy??"

"uh,"

How was he honestly supposed to answer that? not even HE knew where he went! Wait a minute, he didn't know where he went...

"Oh no."

"Oh no?"

"We'll meet up at HQ, I have a plan A and a plan B if plan A doesn't work, throw me in a burlap sack or something, surprize me. But whatever you do, DO _NOT_ touch the statue and DON'T let me out of there until we're at the magic technicians' they'll ...hopefully know what to do."

"Mao Mao, what's going on?"

Without any further explanation or ..anything else like that really, he hung up the phone to turn his attention to a certain shadow monster.

* * *

Badgerclops sighed as Mao Mao hang up. Today was going to be one of _those _days wasn't it?

It wasn't looking good. Mao Mao was clearly hurt, the Shadow monster was still on the loose, thus Pure Heart Valley was still panicking, and there was something weird about what Mao Mao's warning. "Don't touch the statue." Did he mean the new bookend? Adorabat touched it. Should he be worried? What was plan A? why did plan B envolve shoving Mao Mao into a sack and throwing him at the magic technicians? Where _did _he go last night?

But on the bright side: He and Adorabat knew where Mao Mao was now, He has a plan, if the shape-shifter attacked tonight it would be defeated, and everything would be back to <strike>normal</strike> more normal by tomorrow.

"Let's grab a sack and then head home."

"Are we _really _going to throw him in a sack?"

"Well, he never told us what 'plan A' is, so better safe than sorry."

* * *

"Y͠ou҉ ͡d̸ơn͝'t҉ h͞onęst͡l̷y̸ ţh̵ink ͢t͝hat _I͟'m_ ̢that ̷t͢hiņg ҉do̶ ͠y͟o̴u҉?"

"You look like me, you're made of darkness, and you're evil. It's not _that_ far of a stretch"

"Y̡ou a̧ls̴o look l̢i͡k͢e y̷ou̷, y͘our ̕b͠ody i̡s a̶lr͘ea̴dy ̵succu͟m͘b͢i͘n̨g̛ tơ ̡t͏he ̛darķne͏s̷s̸, a̕nd 'ev̨i̵l̵'͘ is̕ not͏hi͝n͞g ̢m̢ore ̕than͠ ͘a lie ͏t͢h͠a̡t̢ ͝t҉he͡ '̧goo҉d' p̛eopl͜e tel̕l the̸m҉sel̵v͟es i̶n̸ ͠o̵r͏de̵r t͘o ͠r̕ȩs̵t̨rict̛ the̛ ͢p͏ow͞er o͜f ot̨h͢e̛r҉s"

The creature scoffed as Mao Mao rolled his eyes at it.

"I҉ onl͞y spea̛k a͘s̸ I͞ d̴o n͞o҉w ̨t͠o ̨wake ͡y͞ou͏ ͏up̛ fro̶m ̵y͟o͠ųr ̶d͟e̶l͠ųs͜i͘onal͡ st͟u͝bb̵o͟rn͘nes͢s̛ ̵to̸ ͝serve͘ tho͟s͟e w͘ho̵ only ͢e҉x̴ist to͟ ̵c̶on̛tr͝ol ̢you.̷ Y͡ou ͏tast͠e͞d thę fr̴e͜edom̢ f̧r̨om̕ 'ord̵er̢' ͢l̛ast nig͡ht͞ ̢d͡i͜d̶ yo͡u͠ not?̨ I ̢be̛t͠ i̕t ҉t̶as͟ţe̛d̨ aş _s͝weet_ a̧s͠ ̡_p̛i̧ȩ_"

"N-no..."

Mao Mao did not like what the creature was implying with its emphasis on those two words. He was probably imagining it due to stress, the monster's words were messing with him, or he accidentally cut his mouth when he fell, but he did notice an odd but familiar metallic taste in his mouth. No, he didn't. Did he? He would never intentionally hurt a Sweetie pie let alone _kill _one! He was there to protect them! He was going to protect them! Especially from the forces of evil!

He bolted through the house on all fours, searching desperately for a certain legendary weapon that he hoped Adorabat and Baderclops did not take with them. He knew he didn't leave it in the woods as he didn't feel the weight of the blade in its sheath when he left.

The Monster's smug look was knocked off his face, revealing a confused look underneath it. A confusion which quickly turned to fear as soon as Mao Mao grabbed what he was looking for: Geraldine.

"_Ah-HA!_"

The sword felt weird in his hands, as if he was holding an uncomfortably hot frying pan handle as opposed to his own trusty weapon. It wasn't "fresh out of the oven" hot, but it was still "_Recently _came out of the oven" hot. But that only made him tighten his grip more, there would be no force in the world that would stop him from

The Parasitic Creature fruitlessly tried to regain its composure as its host was now welding something that would be its demise.

"L̕-le͡t͡'҉s n̢ot d̸o anyt̷hing ͡w͠e͞ ̡wou̷ld ̡regre̷t̸ ̡no͝w..."

"_You just did_"


	6. were-abominations in pure heart

What's going on?

Mao Mao sworn that he was about to swing the final blow of light down on that shadowy parasitic sadist. So why did he feel like he was submerged in water? Why couldn't he see anything? How come he felt like his entire body was 'asleep'? Was he underwater? If so, how was he breathing? Was he breathing?

Where was that voice coming from? Was there someone here with him? 

...

"_Hey! do you know where we are?_"

"_I know where you're going, do you want to know?_"

"_Okay... Where am I going?_"

"_To where your swordsmanship leads you._"

"_What kind of an answer is that?_"

"_A sword is nothing more than an a way for a warrior to channel their power._"

"_That makes sense, the sword is practically an extension of the fighter's body._"

"_It doesn't matter is the sword itself was forged by the gods themselves or scraped together with twigs and twine. If it's wielded by a powerful swordsman, it will slay any foe_"

"_Won't a weak sword fall apart? How is the hero to blame?_"

"_Would a knowledgeable adventurer *let* his blade fall apart when he knows it's the one thing keeping him from death?_"

"_I guess not..._"

"_This, of course also works vice-versa. A weak swordsman can wield a sword of legend and still fail._"

"..."

"_So, I have to thank you._"

"_For what?_"

"**_Ṱ̸͆ͦh̑͑̒̂̀͏̸̝̳̦̗̦̦̥a̭̪̋ͥ̊ͦ̀͜n̷͇͓̜̤ͮ̈̈ͮ̍̄̾͑͡k̛̛̲̙̙͍͎̠͇͓̀̏̓̄̇ͪͣ ̵̛̼͎̱ͪ̈̑̓̃y̳̦̹̙͂̊̏͌ͩ̆̈ͨ͌͠ó̸͕͙̫͇̼̞̪͋͐͂͊̂̂̍u̲̻̿ͭ̊ͮ͠ ̨͋͂̽̔͛͂҉̸̮͚͈̲͙f͈̲̘̦̣̝̳́̏͒̋ͩ͋͢ǫ̩̮̻̪̲͋ͮ͠ŗ́̽ͮ͌̕҉͈͖̞̯͙̰̲ͅ ̵̤͉̲͙̅̉͘ḇ̡̢̭͉̹̃ͥé̴̠̙͈̪͈̤̼̣̾̈́̊ͫ̏̒i̱͖̟̫͙̱ͩͬͥ̌ͬ̓̾͊͞n̢͍̤̯̳͍͚̼̝̮̑̇̆g̲̼͈͗̇̆͌ͨ̋̊̕ ̴̼̥̝̱̩̎s̶͉̫̪̞̋̇̈̉̂ǒ͉̝̭̦̄͜ ̡̟͎̣̦̮̗̹͎͎̅̇̔͆͑͗̕͘w̙̺̳̲̖ͣ͋̾̌̓͘͠e̖̺̝̙̘̙ͧͫͩ̍̆͞a̎̈́ͦͤ̕҉̩̜̣͎̥̜̜͎͠ķ̠͉̥̥̂͒̑̏̅͘ͅ.̳̹͓͙͇̓ͮ͐ͦ͆́̆͞_**"

"_No, no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO **NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!**_"

"_**I WONT ALLOW THIS!**_"

...

* * *

'We were supposed to be on vacation for pete's sake' Badgerclops thought bitterly as he parked the Aerocycle right outside the front door as opposed to the garage. Today just really sucked for him. He hadn't even had breakfast yet and he already had to deal with Mao Mao's strange (and honestly kind of eerie if he was being honest with himself) disappearance, unexplained re-appearance followed by his normal amount of irrational behavior, and the monster, oh dear god, that monster. A horrifying shadow creature that seemed more at home in a horror movie then Pure heart Valley couldn't attack when they were actually on duty, oh no, it just HAD to attack during the vacation!

"Hey Mao Mao, we're ho- Oh no..."

Furniture was either broken, flipped, or both, the walls were all scratched up by sword and claw marks, the shredded remains of what Badgerclops assumed were the couch cushions. The smell of fresh blood and something burnt mingled into one sickly-sweet scent that lingered in the air. If Mao Mao was a disaster when he was just on the phone, he was beyond wrecked now. His cape looked torn up, his leg protectors were damaged, his sash was flat-out missing, the palms of his gloves looked burnt while the gloves themselves were on the floor and Mao Mao was screaming at himself.

"D͟͝͏̕͟O͝͡ ̴͘͡͡Y̵͘͏O͢͞U̸̢̧ ̨̡P̷͜͞L̸̢̕͏̷A̧̛͜N̡͏͠ ̴̷҉͝O͠N̶͘͡ ̷K̶͠I͠҉̡L͏̷L̶̸̷I̛͜N̷̛G̸ ҉͠U̶S̴ ͏̶B҉O̷͏̨T̢͢Ḩ͡ ͝O̵̸̡͡U̵̶̴҉T҉̧͟͡ ̷͏̕͜O͢͠͏F̛̕͝ ̶̧S͜͡P͢͠Į̡T̶̶҉̸͡E͏̧ ̕̕͟͝͏Y̷̧͘O̵͘͠U̸̡̕ ̷͝S̴̡Ţ̨͞U̴͜B̢͟͢B҉̢͏̢O͘͟͜R̴̨N҉͏̸̵͢ ͞F̕͞͝O̶͟͞O̸͘L̸̷̨̢?̸̛͢͢!̷͜"

"_I'm... I'm not going down...! DO YOU HEAR ME?! I... **I AM NOT WEAK!**_"

"DUDE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

A wild pair of bright green eyes met his own eye, and they shrank with fear. The golden sword he had always wielded was grasped tightly in his paws.

"BADGERCLOPS! ADORABAT! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!"

He took a step back, his voice was pleading with desperation, his breathing was strained and his legs were shaking. Badgerclops and Adorabat's minds raced, trying to figure out what had happened in between the call and their arrival. The three heroes stayed locked in an unspoken staring contest.

It felt like an eternity and it felt like a split second at the same time. Until he collapsed onto the floor.

"MAO MAO!"

The burlap sack that Badgerclops had slung over his shoulder had fallen to the floor with a light 'flop' as Adorabat rushed towards the unconscious hero who laid on the floor. He made a mental note to look at the security cameras after... dealing with 'this'.

"Mao Mao?"

He approached him slowly. Before, he had mocked movie protagonists of films with werewolves for not figuring out the obvious fact that when there was a werewolf, the guy who had spontaneously started disappearing, acting weird, and suddenly started having a lot of his clothes ripped up when the werewolf showed up, _was_ the werewolf. Now, here he was with too many pieces that fit too well together for this to be a coincidence.

"HE'S NOT MOVING AT ALL!" Adorabat was shaking him as if her life depended on it.

"Don't panic! he said he has a plan B..."

He shuddered as he lifted him up, why was his body so cold, light, and... squishy? He had expected to feel the normal softness of cat fur when he picked him up, not whatever the fuck was going on with his 'fur'. Both of them let out a surprised gasp when they saw the tail.

The long, transparent limb moved lazily, flicking back and forth as if he was merely asleep. The rest of Mao Mao(?) was solid and consistent but when he tried to touch the tail, his hand phased through it. It didn't feel like he was holding a living, breathing, normal person in the slightest. It felt more like he was holding an almost weightless stuffed animal that had been filled with tar and rolled in spider webs.

Naturally, he stuffed him into the burlap sack as quickly as possible.

"Badgerclops, is Mao Mao going to be okay?"

He slung the sack over his shoulder while he tried to find an answer.

The problem with being the one-guy-with-the-group's-shared-braincell was that Badgerclops didn't want to be the only sane person in the room during a particularly stressful time. He's gotten used to taking turns being the responsible one with Mao Mao but he'd feel a lot more comfortable if Mao Mao was the one calling the shots against the threat of a bloodborne-esc shapeshifter that was doing... well, he didn't know what it was doing but it couldn't be good. But Mao Mao was not calling the shots, he was out of the game.

"I don't know, but Camille might."


	7. splitting at the seams

The sack on Badgerclops’s back kept moving throughout the aerocycle ride and when he brought it to Camille and Honey, he also heard faint muttering within the burlap prison. The muttering was unintelligible but consistent, still continuing even after being unceremoniously dumped out of the bag and onto the “operating table”.

“Yikes, what happened to him THIS time? He looks like he died in a fight against a bunch of sadists and death forgot to collect him!”

“I think he was infected? There was this magical tiny statue and we brought it into our house and weird stuff started happening and then Mao Mao disappeared and a weird shape shifting monster appeared while he was gone and then we found him like this. . .”

Adorabat sheepishly explained while trying to avoid looking at the disheveled state of the normally well-kept hero.

“Well that’s bad, I think I might need to take a closer look at this, but luckily magic is my specialty!”

The Chameleon witch inspected the unconscious, yet still muttering body, paying close attention to suspicious areas, listening to his pulse, and trying to test his reflexes. He was unresponsive until she shined a light into his eye to check on his pupils, to which he hissed and flinched away with an animal-like manner. He lunged at the group but Honey threw a catch pole around his neck and held him down while he snarled, snapped, and struggled to get out.

“HIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS”

“So, like, how do we fix him?”

“Hold your horses! I’m still deciphering his curse!”

Badgerclops covered Adorabat’s eyes and ears on instinct as he heard the creature’s skin tear open with a sickening *crack* accompanying it, the now-visible ribs mimicked the movements of teeth that were chewing and he felt sick when he saw the long whip-like tongue dart out of the “mouth” and thrash around aimlessly, knocking over several (thankfully empty) bottles and assorted papers in the process.

With the precision and calmness of a professional demon-wrangler, Honey twisted the loop in a way that pinned him to the ground with his ribcage-mouth against the floor.  Camille cautiously approached the snarling creature and carefully opened his normal mouth to inspect the insides of it.

"Oh dear, that's not good. . ."

“I know, but is he going to be OKAY?!”

“Hmm. . . the bad news is that the damage appears to have been made by some kind of magic-based parasitoid that wants to kill him and use his body as its own. But the good news is that the sheriff was and is still fighting back! And managed to land a few fatal blows against that thing! At this point, it mostly seems to be a battle of endurance between the two and the loser gets the boot!”

“So is Mao Mao gonna win this?!”

“Well, the parasite did a lot of damage on him in a short amount of time, both physically and mentally. I’ll still do my best to help him but you’d better prepare for the worst.”

“But, Mao Mao. . .”

“They’re going to do what they can, Adorabat. . .”

“IT’S ALL MY FAULT! MAO MAO I’M SO SORRY! I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST A NORMAL NOT-CURSED TREASURE! I DIDN’T KNOW THIS WOULD HAPPEN AT ALL!”

Tears were freely streaming down her face as she spoke, and for a moment, he stopped thrashing about like a raging, wild animal, his features softened a bit upon hearing Adorabat’s apology, he almost looked guilty.

“A̴̛̠̮̹͕̤̍̇͛͂...d͇̲̩̬̳̟͕̞͊̀͗̎͛͘̚͟͞o̷͖̝̼̥̜̟̰̼̣͋̒̈́́̕ṙ̶̤̗̮̳̤͓͉̯͙̊̿̒̇͆̋͒.̣̦̺͒͆̎̈́̆̽̃̽̈...̸̺̱̮̗̼̭͙̰̈͌̅̊̉͂̍̚͡ȃ̵̧̯̲̠͕̣̘͉̱̿̒̈̆̏̂͞͞b̸̦̬̺̺̭̆̏̏̓̽̂̕..a̸̢̰̮͍̰͖̞͕̥̔̆̅̌̑͒t̴̲͔̲͎̰̅̒͂̽̒͒͆͡͝..?͓̙͚̰̤͔̥̪͈̰̾͌̈́̆͝͝”

His voice sounded weak, and distorted, as if he was trying to speak while underwater. But it still clearly sounded like HIS voice, not the voice of whatever vile creature was trying to take him away from them.

“MAO MAO!”

She rushed in to hug him, it looked like he expected her to come barreling into him as he tried to peel himself off of the floor and closed the ribcage mouth as best as he could. It was the weirdest hug she had ever given texture-wise, his fur was cold and felt sticky but she still buried her face into it as if it would be the last time she’d ever hug him again. While he did hug her back, he was less firm then how he usually was when he hugged her, she internally hoped that he was being careful about the new 'teeth' and not that he was too weakened to give her a proper hug.

“i̜̬͔̻̺͓͓͑͌͋͐͢͞͡ͅ.̴̪̝̣̗̞̯̮̯̟̾̒͛͒͐̋͒́̓͝.̸̗͖͙̞͚̖̆̅̑̌̅̒̎̅t̺͎̪̯̪̦̿͊̈́͂̏͑'̨̧̖̱͎̲̼̊̎͒̂̌̏̚͜ͅͅš̸̡̧̞̝̰̬͚̞̻̝̈̈́̃̽̌̇͗̄̕ o̴̱̖̝̜͖͍̼̅͋͌̓̔̈͡͞.̸͕̠͖̰̖̺̈͊̐́̕͟.͖͉̖͕̩̯̒̍̓̇͘͟.̷̡̥̰̟̗͇̙̻̤͒̔͗̾̔̚̕͝.̠͉͇̘͚͇͓͋͆͊͒̃̃̚͟ͅk̴̨̨̛̰̰̪̻̱̈́͗͒̄̂̃͘͠ȁ̸̡̢̼̞͔̃̊̓̋͟͝ͅ.̵̨̨̥̝̥͍̜̊̓̄͛̄̕͟͜͠.̧̪̗͕̠̩͇̫̲͖̑̈̽̊̔͒̍̕͝.̵͎̞͈̝͕̙̻͛̔̾̄̿͋̏̌ͅy̯͎̱͇̗̯̓̍̂̂̚͢͢,̢̣̗̖̙̼̞̝̼̈́̓́̽̍͋̃͂͟ n̨̛͕̦̦͂̂̽͑̑͆͗̈ͅ.̸̨̛̮̘̱͎̪͈̤̯̆̊͂̈͟.̞͓̲͔̱͓̖͔͂͒͂̀͂̕̚͠͡.̝̞͈̝̤̔̓̔̂͡͝͝ǫ̲͓͔̹̤̝̭̪̓̅̇̚͞t̵̢̙̪̞̺̋̇̎͗̃͋̚͝ y̟̮̼͕̪͈̼̮͗̊̓͊̂͂͝͠o̢̡̗͚̺̗̬̫͐̉͛̂́̒̓̆̉̅͟.̷̨̜̤̗̬̌̈́̍̌̽͊̕̕͘ͅ.̣̱͇̜͓̲̱̰̃̅͐̍̇̎̀̏̚͘ͅȕ̧̬͎̘̼͉͔̣̾̆͂̀̍͑̏r̨̳̤̖̞̞̪̟͉̳̀͌̏̒͗̒̎̔ ḟ̶̼̬̜͚̜̽͋͘̕͢͝͠ͅ.̶̡̯͚͔̖̖͛̐̀̃̽̐̓̈́̕.̨͈̬͈͇̜͇̔̑̒̔͂̿͒͒ā͈̝̥̜͇̾̌͛͋̐ù̢̧̗̱̲̙̼̖̍̈̔͑̌̍̆̆͜.̛̘̬̲͙̳̇̈͒̏͗̓̏.̛̘͙̱̻̪̪͙͎̻̔̒͗̅̚͞͠.̮̗̯̻̤̦͍͔̝̟͐̉̂̔̚͠ḻ̷̡͓̱̭͙̊̈̓̾̚͜t̻̠͚̞͖̏̐͂̓̐̓̈-”

The door burst open, a disheveled king Snugglemagne dashed into the room, narrowly avoiding the wraith of an angry mob and quickly slammed the door closed and holding it shut with his own body.

_ BANG BANG BANG _

“SHERIFFS! PLEASE TELL ME MAO MAO’S BACK AND HE KNOWS WHAT TO DO! I DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH LONGER I CAN HOLD OFF THESE RUFFIANS!”

_ BANG BANG BANG _

The sweetie pies’ hammering on the thankfully sturdy wooden door grew louder and more powerful, as if emphasising the king’s point. He dug his claws into the wall in a desperate attempt to keep his balance.

"WHERE'S THE SHERIFF?!"

"THAT MONSTER IS STILL OUT THERE!"

"WHY ISN'T ANYTHING BEING DONE ABOUT THIS?!"

"I WANNA RIOT!"

Badgerclops’s ability to turn his hand into a megaphone was very useful.

“_**EVERYBODY CALM DOWN! I’LL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING WE KNOW!**_”

True to his word, Badgerclops left with the king to explain the situation to everybody, that Mao Mao was back, that the nightmare monster was gone, that Mao Mao was in a critical condition, and that yes, he would be investigating the case further just in case there was (god forbid) more monsters like it. While he and Adorabat wanted to stay to make sure that Mao Mao would be okay, a Sheriff’s job was never done. The citizens needed this critical update on <strike>the monster</strike> Mao Mao’s situation so that they would stop rioting, and hopefully without the angry mob in their room, Camille and honey could work their magic in peace.

* * *

Time is, was, and will always be a rather funny thing. It likes to pretend it’s neat and orderly with it’s seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, et cetera. But in reality it’s chaotic and irrational, going too fast and too slow whenever it pleases which is rarely at a convenient pace for the rest of us. Thankfully it is not a thing of maliciousness or evil, it is just a thing of chaos that masquerades as order. Especially when sleep is involved, making those few short moments of unconsciousness feel like seconds or days depending on what's happening.

Have you ever wished that you would go back in time to a certain argument to handle it differently? It is very likely you have, maybe you had a clever line you thought about two weeks after the argument ended, or maybe you thought you were too harsh (or not harsh enough) on the other person. Maybe you thought about multiple ways you could end the argument while still having it, but your indecisiveness left you without using any of them.

Listening to what the person had to say, then telling that person why the plan didn't work in a gentle yet firm manner.

A quick shutdown of the other person and walking away to save your time for more important things.

Making fun of the plan in a joking manner.

A long, passionate, and vulgar rant about how the other person's plan was the stupidest idea to ever exist, including pointing out the many ways it could have failed and how the only reason why it managed to get as far as it did without collapsing is sheer luck, relishing in the person's despair as you do so.

Just straight-up fighting the person one-on-one with nothing but fists and untamed fury.

So many options, so little time to pick one. Yes, just one, it is practically impossible to do more than one, or all of them at once. Very bad news should one find themselves in a situation where ending the conversation with the final blow had means life or death. Imagine how stressful it would be to deal with that, it could almost even...

_ tear you up inside. . . _

* * *

"Well this will be hard to explain. . ."

Camille stared at the scene before her that may or may not have been influenced with her help. The splattered remains of a beast that was too otherworldly to exist in this dimensional plane were definitely Mao Mao's doing, he killed the creature and it's body had to manifest _somehow_ after being kicked out by its host. That was the part she knew how to explain.

What she DIDN'T know how to explain was the black-furred ordinary pet house cat that happily lapped up some of the creature's gorey remains before being stopped, Or the other four cats (who were thankfully, sentient cats and not pet cats) in the room.

She knew well that all of them were Mao Mao, or rather, physical manifestations of the fractions of his mind. But how on earth was she supposed to convey that fact to the other sheriffs when they get back?


End file.
